Facebook subscriptions and content monetisation

Facebook have a history of ‘borrowing’ ideas from other platforms and integrating them into their own.

The latest victim of this seems to be Patreon, the platform that gives creators a way to directly monetise content through a membership or patronage model instead of advertising. Patreon generates millions of dollars every month for creators worldwide so it’s no wonder Facebook would want a piece of its market to lure creators over.

Although it was announced back in March we’re now seeing the first UK accounts to go live with the newly integrated functionality to ‘Become a Supporter’. One of the first of these is huge parenting page LadBaby.

When you click the button in the call to action space on the page (below the cover photo) you’re presented with a video and a description of the perks you get for parting with £3.49 every month.

What you receive for supporting

• Supporter badge ‘A badge is displayed next to your comments on LadBaby’s posts and live broadcasts as soon as you subscribe. Remove it at any time.’
• Exclusive content ‘Exclusive posts only for LadBaby Turbo supporters! Get access to unseen videos, behind the scenes photos and the chance to vote in Facebook polls where YOU can influence future LadBaby videos’
• Discounts ‘Receive exclusive discount from the official LadBaby merchandise store! YES MAAAAAAAATE!’
• Live videos ‘Watch live videos that are only available to LadBaby Turbo supporters’

It’s had a mixed reaction so far with some supporters confused that all content would become paid-only, while others appreciating the effort that is put into the content and deeming it worthwhile.

Monetising exclusive social content

I’m curious to see if any charities will choose to go down this route as a way of expanding their regular giving offering. At this stage it’s not even clear whether that will become an option, with only creators’ pages involved in the initial trial. I’ve previously blogged about alternative moves to increase regular giving through subscription boxes but that’s not something all organisations have the resource to do.

Would using Facebook’s new functionality mean moving to create regular content with celebrity supporters? How about exclusive longform story content with service users or beneficiaries? Or would the bonus features not be required for donors to part with a subscription fee? Facebook are already trialling regular gifts as part of Facebook Donate but this would enable Pages to give supporters something in return for their loyalty (which seems to be a growing expectation).

Could this move Facebook Pages towards a model like more and more newspapers, offering a select amount of content for free but then needing a paid membership to read more? Or do people still associate Facebook with lower quality disposable content, while Patreon has succeeded because YouTube is thought of as higher quality?

It’ll be interesting to see whether this functionality takes off and becomes an asset, or whether it’s more hassle to create the additional content than it’s worth.